Buehrle's impact still felt on White Sox rotation

By Scott Merkin / MLB.com

CHICAGO -- Mark Buehrle has not been part of the White Sox starting rotation since 2011, but his influence lives on.

Both John Danks and Chris Sale marveled at the southpaw's almost unparalleled consistency, as Buehrle picked up his 10th win Sunday and reached double-digit victories in a season for the 13th straight year. With three more starts and 28 more innings, Buehrle will reach at least 30 starts and at least 200 innings for the 13th straight time.

"That obviously speaks for itself," said Sale, who was in the bullpen both years he worked on the same staff with Buehrle. "Not only for performance on the field but the work he puts in, the pride he takes. It's just kind of who he is."

"Yeah, he's pretty incredible," Danks said. "It's pretty well documented he doesn't have the best stuff in the game. But he certainly knows how to pitch. He doesn't beat himself and stays healthy. That's pretty amazing to me, the success he's had year in and year out. Definitely the model of consistency."

Buehrle's style of pitching was actually a model referred to by pitching coach Don Cooper earlier this season for Danks to follow once he came back from 2012 season-ending arthroscopic surgery. Although Buehrle's fastball rarely hits the high 80s at this point of his career, Danks knew what Cooper meant and understood that comparison as a positive.

"I took that more as I can't be a guy to give in anymore," Danks said. "If I get 3-1 or something on a guy, I can't just rear back and throw it as hard as I can. I'm going to have to be a little smarter, mix in an offspeed pitch, try to get a guy out front and use his aggressiveness against him. I've been fortunate to be able to watch Mark do that for five years or so and I've learned a lot from him -- more from just watching him and how he goes about things."

"To this day, and it might be politically incorrect to say, but I'm still a big fan of watching him pitch," said Sale of Buehrle. "When he's pitching, I watch. I root for him. That goes back to the person he is."

Parent back on the bench after venting, ejection

CHICAGO -- One day after Mark Parent was ejected by crew chief Jerry Layne during the exchange of lineup cards, the White Sox bench coach didn't offer up specifics in regard to his extremely early dismissal.

"We had a disagreement. It got out of hand and he decided to throw me out," said Parent, who was not in the clubhouse following Sunday's 5-2 win over the Rangers by the time the media arrived to talk about the ejection. "We had a difference of opinion right away. This is about the only time I get to talk to him."

Parent only admitted that there were "some things Saturday night that I didn't like," but went no further. There was a controversial call involving Ian Kinsler's inside-the-park homer on a ball that got trapped under the pads on the wall down the line in left, but that play took place Friday and was ruled on by third-base umpire Greg Gibson.

There was a close play at home Saturday that went against the White Sox, when A.J. Pierzynski appeared to block the plate enough to keep Alexei Ramirez from scoring. It was Hunter Wendelstedt who ruled Ramirez out on that call.

Manager Robin Ventura had no interest in carrying on discussions about the ejection. Parent knew the ejection was coming once the argument began and felt good venting, but that venting came at a price.

"It still costs you money when you do that," Parent said. "I didn't feel bad about it when it was over. I felt bad I wasn't out here to help Robin and the club. But I thought it was something I needed to say."

Reed poised to become club's fourth with 40 saves

CHICAGO -- Addison Reed needs just five more saves to become the fourth closer in White Sox history to reach 40 in a single season. Bobby Thigpen (57 in 1990), Keith Foulke (42 in 2001) and Bobby Jenks (41 in 2006; 40 in 2007) hit that lofty plateau.

But with the club's recent hot streak producing 14 wins in 20 games, the right-hander hopes to move well past 40.

"Forty would be nice, but I mean, it would be nice to get 50 because that means we are winning those ballgames," said Reed, who was a candidate for American League Player of the Week with four saves. "The more I get, the better it is because we are winning. I'm going to try to get as many as possible.

"That's something that once the season is over with and I look back at it, I think it will be even cooler. But right now, if I have two more save chances, I'll try to get those. If I have 10 more, I'll try to get those."

Reed hit a snag in the ninth inning of Monday night's 10-8 loss to the Astros, allowing back-to-back homers to Matt Dominguez and Chris Carter.

Third to first

• The White Sox entered Monday's series opener with the Astros ranked 13th in the AL with just 118 homers. Although fans have railed against previous homer-based offenses on the South Side, the team needs the long ball for success according to Robin Ventura.

"Absolutely. You have the DH, so it just creates another bat that should be a power bat that can do that in your lineup," Ventura said. "Early in the year, it didn't seem like we were getting them at the right time.

"Lately, they've been coming at important times. You look back, [Dayan] Viciedo [grand slam] in Kansas City, [Adam] Dunn the other day against [Yu] Darvish, Jordan [Danks] yesterday and [Josh] Phegley. You get them at the right time and it's good for you and gives you the kind of distance at that time to push ahead and give your bullpen a chance."

From 2000-08, the White Sox hit at least 200 homers in every season but 2007, when they hit 190. They dipped below 200 from 2009-11, with a low of 154 two years ago, but hit 211 in '12.

Two homers in a 10-8 loss to the Astros increased this season's total to 120.

• Avisail Garcia was back in the starting lineup Monday after running into the right-field wall trying to catch Jeff Baker's homer Sunday. He left the game with dizziness, but Ventura said it was more about dehydration and there were no concussion symptoms.

• Jacob May, the third-round pick for the White Sox in the 2013 First-Year Player Draft, was named South Atlantic League Player of the Week for the week of Aug. 19-25. May hit .500 with one homer, eight runs scored and five stolen bases in seven games for Class A Kannapolis.

May, the nephew of former White Sox player Carlos May, is hitting .302 with seven homers, 31 RBIs and 21 stolen bases between stops with the Intimidators and Great Falls.

• Brad Goldberg made his debut for Class A Winston-Salem on Sunday, throwing three scoreless innings. Goldberg, selected in the 10th round of the 2013 First-Year Player Draft by the White Sox, is the only player from the White Sox Draft class to advance as high as Winston-Salem. He has a 1.11 ERA and 45 strikeouts over 32 1/3 innings over stops at Great Falls, Kannapolis and Winston-Salem.

• John Danks became the first pitcher to start and win a Major League game in which his brother homered as a teammate since June 28, 1947, per Elias. Walker Cooper went deep in that game for the New York Giants, while his brother, Mort, threw a complete game at the Polo Grounds.

Scott Merkin is a reporter for MLB.com. Read his blog, Merk's Works, and follow him on Twitter @scottmerkin. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.